John Clay: Gillispie's tactics no longer work

John Clay / Herald-Leader Sports Columnist

Josh Harrellson, right, said former UK coach Billy Gillispie never told him exactly how he wanted him to play.

Date	Opponent	Time	TV	Score
2009-10 UK MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
(Click on opponent to scout; click on result for game coverage)
Nov. 2	a-C-VILLE	7	Fox Sports South	W, 74-38
Nov. 6	a-CLARION	7	Fox Sports South	W, 117-52
Nov.13	MOREHEAD ST.	6:30	ESPNU	W, 75-59
Nov.16	MIAMI (Ohio)	7	Fox Sports South	W, 72-70
Nov.19	b-SAM HOUSTON ST.	7	Fox Sports South	W, 102-92
Nov.21	b-RIDER	1	Fox Sports South	W, 92-63
Nov.24	c-Cleveland St.	4:30	CBS
Nov.25	Stanford/Virginia	7/9:30	TBA
Nov.30	d-UNC-Asheville	7	Fox Sports South
Dec. 5	NORTH CAROLINA	12:30	CBS-27
Dec. 9	e-Connecticut	9:30	ESPN
Dec.12	at Indiana	Noon	CBS-27
Dec.19	AUSTIN PEAY	4	Charter Sports Southeast
Dec.21	DREXEL	7	ESPNU
Dec.23	LONG BEACH ST.	TBA	Fox Sports South
Dec.29	HARTFORD	7	ESPN2
Jan. 2	LOUISVILLE	3:30	CBS-27
Jan. 9	GEORGIA	4	SEC Network
Jan. 12	at Florida	9	ESPN
Jan. 16	at Auburn	4	SEC Network
Jan. 23	ARKANSAS	4	SEC Network
Jan. 26	at South Carolina	9	ESPN
Jan. 30	VANDERBILT	4	ESPN
Feb. 2	MISSISSIPPI	7	ESPN
Feb. 6	at Louisiana St.	4	SEC Network
Feb. 9	ALABAMA	9	ESPNU
Feb.13	TENNESSEE	9	ESPN
Feb.16	at Mississippi St.	9	ESPN
Feb.20	at Vanderbilt	6	ESPN
Feb.25	SOUTH CAROLINA	9	ESPN/ ESPN2
Feb.27	at Tennessee	Noon	CBS-27
Mar. 3	at Georgia	8	SEC Network
Mar. 7	FLORIDA	Noon	CBS-27
Mar. 11-14	f-SEC Tournament	TBA	SEC Network / ABC-36

HOME games capitalized; all games p.m.
a-exhibition; b-Cancun Challenge (Rupp Arena); c-Cancun Challenge (Moon Palace Resort, Cancun, Mexico); d-at Freedom Hall, Louisville; e-SEC/Big East Invitational (Madison Square Garden, New York City); f-at Nashville (Sommet Center)

Click here to download a printable UK schedule

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No one should be surprised by Josh Harrellson's confirmation this week that former Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie's methods bordered on the sadistic.

Here's the real surprise: That anybody thinks that kind of stuff works.

Harrellson verified to our own Jerry Tipton the rumor that during halftime of last year's game at Vanderbilt, the sophomore forward was banished to a bathroom stall, apart from the team, apparently as punishment for poor play.

Then after the Cats' 77-64 loss to the Commodores, Gillispie ordered Harrellson off the team bus and into the team equipment truck for the long ride back to Lexington.

Anyone around the UK program has heard the stories, so outlandish and embarrassing you needed confirmation from the parties involved to put them into print.

And you didn't have to be an insider to know that by season's end, there was a massive disconnect between a group of beaten-down players and their maniacal coach, one who apparently harbored a disturbing Bob Knight fetish.

My bottom line: Anyone who can't find a better way of motivating a young person than making him sit in a bathroom stall has no business being around kids, much less being a coach.

I know, I know, our sports-crazed society often celebrates a different bottom line, one in which the ends justify the means and a winning coach can do no wrong.

Had his hard-line tactics produced a winner, Billy G. would have been hailed as an old-school disciplinarian who got the most out of his players.

Only Gillispie didn't win � not enough to keep his job. A coach who uses such barbarian tactics can't win, not anymore. There's a reason Bob Knight is no longer coaching basketball.

Kids today don't want to play for those coaches, nor should they. They're too smart for that. They know too much. They've been exposed to too much. While some argue that kids today don't know the difference between right and wrong, I'd argue that they know the difference now more than ever. They can think for themselves.

Bill Curry said that in his era, when a coach told a player to run through a brick wall, the player ran through it. Now, said Curry, the player asks, "How is running through that wall going to make me a better player?"

Recently, I heard CBS color man Gary Danielson offer the best assessment of a coach's ability: "A good coach tells you what to do. A great coach shows you how to do it."

Gillispie didn't show his players how to do it as much as he tried to "toughen" them into doing it through fear, intimidation and two-bit mind games. Yelling isn't coaching.

But it isn't realistic to say Gillispie flies solo, either. Those tactics still exist in college, where the big (and getting bigger) business of college athletics keeps turning up the pressure-cooker. They're still around in high school sports, where too many coaches are on power trips while too many parents are afraid to speak out for fear their sons or daughters will suffer the consequences.

And if you think they're no longer around in youth sports, you haven't been to your local park or gymnasium lately.

I believe those methods are, thankfully, on the way out for one very good reason.

When Gillispie arrived at Kentucky from Texas A&M, he did so with the reputation of being a great recruiter. But when top-notch players kept snubbing the Cats for other schools, Kentucky fans wondered why the best of the prep stars would not not want to play for Billy G.

I think now we know.

Reach John Clay at (859) 231-3226 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3226, or jclay@herald-leader.com. Read his blog at Kentucky.com.